A/N - Let me know what you think! I would love to know!
We walked past the several buildings between the lodging house and the distribution center, including the one we hung out on top of when it was nice out. When we arrived, Thomas was just rounding the corner, a wicked smirk on his face, and he purposefully bumped into me.
"Have fun today." He spat. I frowned, what was going on? I looked up at the men who wrote the headline. They were taking their time today, occasionally glancing down at us, before muttering amongst themselves, and beginning to write.
"Hey look, it's not about the trolley strike." Ladders said. I nodded and watched as they spelt out the words I had never wanted to hear.
"New Newsie Price? 60 Cents A Hundred?" Cheery shouted. Shouts of protest echoed through the group.
"I can't afford that!" Clothespin shouted. Several shouts of agreement echoed through the crowd.
I marched through the gates, headed towards where Mr. Moses, and Thomas stood, the rest of the boys following me.
I slammed my hands on the counter. "Why the jack-up?"
Mr. Moses flinched backwards, having never seen me this angry. Thomas leaned forwards and responded for him. "For them kind of answers, you have to ask farther up the food chain. So are you buying? Or moving on?"
I gestured for the boys to crowd around me.
"What do we do?" Cheery asked.
"Let's just get our papers while we still can." Raven spoke up.
The group broke out into various shouts of protest, until I whistled to get them to stop talking. They all looked at me expectantly, waiting for some sort of solution to the problem.
"Well, what are we doing?" Ladders asked.
I paused, and thought about it. What was Queens going to do?
Later that afternoon, we all sat on top of the roof, waiting. I knew at least one of the other turfs was going to have an idea, and to have any success with that idea, they were going to need my help, since I had the biggest turf out there. I was going to give it a day, and if nothing happened, than I'd figure it out when we came to it.
Raven had just gotten back from his short journey to the lodging house, and he ran up to me. "People from Manhattan and Brooklyn are coming here."
I nodded and thanked him, before standing up, and adjusting my stance to make me look a lot tougher than I needed to be. The boys of Queens, sensing what was about to happen, stood up and repeated my actions, making themselves look like the turf we were rumoured to be, instead of the turf we actually were.
I looked around at all of the boys and nodded, placing an evil smirk on my face. We didn't just look tough, we looked mean, even Ladders, who could rarely stop himself from smiling.
As we finished these actions, the two boys from Manhattan and Brooklyn appeared up the fire escape, along with another boy.
I let Ladders walk up to them and talk to them for a moment, before he came back to me and smirked, muttering in my ear. "They are sort of nosy. Be careful. I told them you were gone and that I'd get a different boy for the time being."
I smirked and walked up to them, feeling the glances of the boys' eyes on my back, keeping an eye on the situation.
"What can I assist you with?" I asked, keeping my voice low, my strong Queens accent coming through.
"We need Queen's help."
I tilted my head, assessing the one from Manhattan. Tall, with dark hair and eyes, around seventeen. I raised my eyebrow, a disarming skill I had. "With what?" I asked.
The second one, the one from Brooklyn seemed to be assessing me too, making me glad for bindings, even if they were uncomfortable. I glanced at him, taking in brown hair and eyes. He was taller than me, but probably around my age. I smirked at him and he scowled.
"Manhattan wants to go on strike, but the rest of the turfs are refusing to join unless Crown and Spot Conlon join as well." That must be the other boy.
I hummed. "Interesting idea, I'll admit, but what makes you think it will work?" I asked.
"Listen," The other boy, who didn't seem like a regular newsie, stepped forwards. "Crown and Spot Conlon are the most respected newsies in New York-"
"I'm going to cut you off right there," I said. Spot Conlon was the most respected newsie in New York? As if. He was named after numerous spotted puppies in the world. He wasn't even willing to show up here. "I don't care if Crown was the most respected newsie in the world. I'm willing to bet that most of the boys don't even know his name. Am I right?"
Clothespin and Ladders watched my interaction, amused smirks on their faces.
He looked at a loss for words at my statement.
"That's what I thought." I sneered.
"Why not?" The Brooklyn kid said. "Why not go with Jack and David's idea?" So that was their names.
I turned towards him. "Because, kid, Crown wouldn't want himself or others getting hurt in a hopeless fight."
His eyes widened slightly, as if he wasn't expecting much of a fight out of me. "What makes you think it's hopeless?" He asked.
"Who do you think you are to question his motives?" I asked, hoping to figure out who this kid was.
"Spot Conlon." He spat.
Almost immediately, all the boys in Queens straightened up, their smirks going into frowns. We had all heard of the Brooklyn leader, and we all knew what he could do, but showing up here, on my turf, after the agreement five years ago, it was dangerous territory.
I did the same, crossing my arms over my chest and scowling at him. Jack seemed to sense the tension and moved awkwardly, shifting his feet back and forth as he stared at me.
Spot saw this and looked around at all the boys, his eyes narrowing. "Who does that make you?" He asked, spitting in his hand and holding it out.
I glared at him for a moment. " to meet you." I spat in my hand and shook his hand, the tension between us thick enough to cut.
Brooklyn and Queens had never gotten along, even before the turf war, Manhattan being happy enough to just team up with whoever let them. They had teamed up with Brooklyn
Jack froze, staring at me; as if he couldn't fathom how I was the supposed Crown we were all speaking off moments earlier.
Spot let out a snort of amusement. "You are kidding. You don't look like you could harm a fly."
I watched Ladders stiffen out of the corner of my eye. I stepped forwards until I was close enough to shove him if I wanted to.
"Listen to me Spot, I don't care what you think of me, but if I wanted to, I could send you home, whimpering and licking your wounds. So don't you dare underestimate me because of my size?" I stepped away from him, my eyes flaming.
"I'm not joining the strike." I addressed Jack and David.
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't want too," I spat. "If you really think Pulitzer is going to listen to a bunch of kids, you are going to be assigned to a painted room. Now get off my turf, before I make you," I paused, watching David and Jack begin their descent down the ladder. "And take your little puppy dog with you." I said, before turning.
I could hear Spot growl from behind me and I smirked, knowing I had gotten on his nerves.
"How is that twelve year old in charge of Queens?" I heard David ask.
"I'm fifteen." I told him.
"Doesn't look like it." Spot muttered.
"Good thing I wasn't asking your opinion." I responded, a sickly sweet smile on my face.
He scowled at me as he followed the boys down. I watched them go before turning back to the boys, who were all grinning at me. Almost immediately, we all broke out into laughter as soon as they were out of earshot.
"That went brilliant!" Ladders told me. "Good to know we are still intimidating. Did you see their faces?"
I smiled. "I glad that went well. I wonder why Conlon came, it's not as if he wants our approval on the strike."
Ladders laughed at me. "I can't believe how you can go from you to evil in thirty seconds," he wiped away a tear. "Positively brilliant."
I shook my head. Manhattan and Brooklyn were still as stupid as they had been five years ago.